UPDATE 2-Aabar mulls upping Daimler stake after F1 deal

* Aabar chairman mulls raising Daimler stake

* Move would further bolster ties following Brawn team buy

* Daimler to get 45 pct of Brawn team, Aabar another 30 pct

* Daimler shares gain 4 percent

(Rewrites throughout with background)

DUBAI/FRANKFURT, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Daimler's (DAIGn.DE) largest shareholder Aabar AABAR.AD wants to beef up its 9.1 percent stake in the German carmaker after teaming up to jointly acquire a majority of Formula One champions Brawn GP.

Shares in Daimler rose over 4 percent on the back of comments from Aabar Chairman Khadem al Qubaisi to Bloomberg on Monday that the Abu Dhabi-listed investment company was "in talks" to raise its holding to 15 percent. The timing would depend on the stock price, he said.

When asked on Monday whether Aabar was considering raising its interest in Daimler, al-Qubaisi told Reuters by telephone "yes", without elaborating further.

The listed non-energy investment arm of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund IPIC, invested 1.95 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in March year to overtake the Gulf state of Kuwait as Daimler's largest shareholder. [ID:nLN133911]

Raising its interest to 15 percent would require buying an additional 62.7 million shares, which would cost Aabar another 2.24 billion euros at current prices.

Daimler declined to comment on Aabar's statements.

Abu Dhabi pumps most of the oil produced by the United Arab Emirates, the world's third-largest oil exporter. Fuelled by a six-year boom in oil prices, the emirate plans to diversify its economy away from its heavy reliance on petroleum.

In August, Aabar said it was setting up vehicle and engine manufacturing plants in Algeria with five German firms, including Daimler. [ID:nLA179017]

Gulf states have been avid investors in German automotive firms. Natural gas-rich Qatar has taken a 10 percent voting stake in Porsche SE (PSHG_p.DE) and plans to buy 17 percent in Volkswagen's ordinary shares (VOWG.DE).

DAIMLER RACING HERITAGE